Thursday's vote along party lines -- it was 3-2 on the Republican-led panel -- marks a big shift from more than a decade of federal oversight. Under net neutrality, broadband providers like Comcast, Verizon and AT&T were regulated like telecommunications companies, but the new rules will treat them like information services.

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The proposal not only rolls back restrictions that keep broadband providers from blocking or collecting tolls from services they don’t like, it would bar states from imposing their own rules.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, a Republican who says his plan to repeal net neutrality will eliminate unnecessary regulation, called the internet the “greatest free-market innovation in history.”

“What is the FCC doing today?” he asked before the vote. “Quite simply, we are restoring the light-touch framework that has governed the internet for most of its existence.”

The debate over whether to keep the rules or not has drawn millions of opinions online and even in the streets -- as evidenced by the large crowd of protesters outside of the FCC building. Providers say repealing the rules allow them to better invest in the innovation and infrastructure, while opponents argue it will make the Internet less free and harm consumers.

"The sky is not falling," Pai said at the FCC. "Consumers will remain protected and the internet will continue to thrive."

Internet giant Google released a statement supporting the rules just minutes after the vote; streaming service Netflix said net neutrality "ushered in an unprecedented era of innovation, creativity & civic engagement;" and Twitter called the vote "a body blow to innovation and free expression."

We’re disappointed in the decision to gut #NetNeutrality protections that ushered in an unprecedented era of innovation, creativity & civic engagement. This is the beginning of a longer legal battle. Netflix stands w/ innovators, large & small, to oppose this misguided FCC order.

The @FCC's vote to gut #NetNeutrality rules is a body blow to innovation and free expression. We will continue our fight to defend the open Internet and reverse this misguided decision. https://t.co/TXTQWDiBNC

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), with 15 other Democratic senators, announced a Congressional Review Act resolution to undo the vote and restore the rules. In a statement, he said without strong net neutrality rules, entrepreneurs, inventors and small businesses are at the mercy of the providers.

“We will fight the FCC’s decisions in the courts, and we will fight it in the halls of Congress,” Markey said in a statement. “With this (Congressional Review Act), Congress can correct the Commission’s misguided and partisan decision and keep the internet in the hands of the people, not big corporations. Our Republicans colleagues have a choice -- be on the right side of history and stand with the American people who support net neutrality, or hold hands with the big cable and broadband companies who only want to supercharge their profits at the expense of consumers and our economy.”

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who has been investigating the millions of fake comments submitted during the net neutrality comment process, said he would lead a multi-state lawsuit to stop the roll back.

"The FCC just gave Big Telecom an early Christmas present, by giving internet service providers yet another way to put corporate profits over consumers," Schneiderman said. "Today’s rollback will give ISPs new ways to control what we see, what we do, and what we say online. That’s a threat to the free exchange of ideas that’s made the Internet a valuable asset in our democratic process."

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, along with Bob Ferguson, the attorney general of Washington State announced they would be joining Schneiderman's lawsuit.

“With today’s FCC vote, Americans will pay more for the internet and will have fewer options,” said Healey. “The agency has completely failed to justify this decision and we will be suing to stand up for the free exchange of ideas and to keep the American people in control of internet access.”

"We are 5-0 against the Trump Administration because they often fail to follow the law when taking executive action," Ferguson said. There is a strong legal argument that with this action, the federal government violated the Administrative Procedure Act — again...Allowing internet service providers to discriminate based on content undermines a free and open internet."